To investigate speech-language clinicians' attitudes regarding treatment goal setting for children who were speakers of Black English, questionnaires based on W. Wolfram and R. Fasold's conceivable goals in teaching standard English to speakers of nonstandard dialects were distributed to 103 clinicians. (Author/CL)

Notes that familiarity with the language of students--and especially awareness of the features of their languages that make acquisition of educated English difficult--enables the teacher to use a variety of techniques. Suggests that tolerance and acceptance of a panoply of dialects is a must, not a choice. (RS)

Examines several longstanding, isolated biracial sociolinguistic situations in the coastal and Appalachian regions of North Carolina: a core community of African Americans and two case studies of isolated speakers. Compares diagnostic phonological and morphosyntactic variables for speakers representing different generations of African American and…

Presents a case study of the language of a 23-year-old white female who makes consistent use of the many distinctive features associated with African American Vernacular English (AAVE). Argues that the interaction of ideologies of race, class, localness, and language allow her to be considered an ingroup member despite her biographical race.…

Investigated African American Vernacular English dialect features in the midwestern community of Davenport, Iowa, and compared them to those reported by Pollock and Berni (1997) for Memphis, Tennessee--specifically productions of vocalic and postvocalic /r/ across African-American speakers from Davenport and Memphis. (Author/VWL)

Hilliard, a professor and expert on African culture, speaks about the racial and cultural bias of standardized tests, multiculturalism, the concept of race, Afrocentric teaching, Ebonics, recruiting and retaining African-American teachers, and the future classroom. (SK)

Suggests that Ebonics deserves respect as a genuine spoken dialect, widely used and important in American culture. Notes that students who are fluent in it benefit when they are allowed to add standard English to their repertoire and taught the appropriate occasions for each way of speaking. (RS)

Examined nonlinguists' beliefs about language through dialogue in which African-American Vernacular English is the focus. Respondents are observed reasoning about language, and analyses reveal the structure of the conversation and the structure of participants' folk beliefs about language. (JP) (47 references)

The purpose of this study was to examine the language ideologies--the assumptions about the nature of language, language variation, and language learning--reflected in a widespread daily editing activity often known as Daily Oral Language or Daily Language Practice. Through a yearlong ethnographic study of grammar instruction in three urban,…

This experiment tested the effects of racial group membership, race of experimenter, and dialect on recall in 4-year-olds. The findings indicated that whites outperformed blacks in standard English, blacks outperformed whites in black vernacular, and both performed better in their own vernacular. (JMB)

The two purposes of this study were to analyze the linguistic studies of the speech of black Americans which began in 1865 and ended in 1972 and to determine, on the basis of the studies analyzed, whether or not a black dialect exists. First, 73 studies were read and analyzed; second, these studies were categorized according to the investigators'…

The situation in the U.S. is different from that in England, France and other European countries: in each of those countries there is something that is known as the standard language, and a number of dialects apart from the standard language. There is also a rather close consensus on what the standard dialect is (especially on phonological lines).…

In his article "Contraction, Deletion, and Inherent Variability of the English Copula" ("Language," 1969, William Labov asserts that the affinities of Black English (BE) with Standard English (SE) are evidenced by the fact that BE copula deletion occurs in those positions where SE copula contraction may occur. This paper examines the conclusions…

The statement by the Executive Committee of the Conference on College Composition and Communication affirming the student's right to his own language--his dialect--poses a challenge deserving further research, especially as it concerns the classroom situation. Black English, a dialect with linguistic principles whose roots can be traced to West…